Kingdom of the Wicked Book One: Rules

by Helen Dale

From the best-selling author of The Hand that Signed the Paper, winner of the Miles Franklin Award, comes an epic work of speculative fiction.

784 ab urbe condita—31 AD. Jerusalem sits uneasily in a Roman Empire that has seen an industrial revolution and now has cable news and flying machines—and rites and morals that are strange and repellent to the native people of Judaea.

A charismatic young leader is arrested after a riot in the Temple. He seems to be a man of peace, but among his followers are Zealots and dagger-men sworn to drive the Romans from the Holy Land.

As the city spirals into violence, the stage is set for a legal case that will shape the future—the trial of Yeshua Ben Yusuf. Intricately imagined and ferociously executed, Kingdom of the Wicked is a stunning alternative history and a story for our time.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Alternate History, Fantasy, Science Fiction

488 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2017

Reviews

[Петър Стойков · Rating 5 out of 5]

В момента, в който пиша това ревю, Израел навлиза с танкове и пехотни воиски в палестинската автономна област, като отговор на поредица нападения и терористични актове от страна на Хамас, които пък са отговор на поредица актове от страна на Израел, които пък са отговор ... и т.н. и т.н. Практически повторение на историята на тия земи отпреди 2000 години, само дето в момента евреите са в ролята на жестоката империя, докато тогава обратно, бяха фанатизираните цигани.

Направо е нереално колко точен е паралелът в книгата, където Римската империя съществува в наши дни. С нейните си характеристики, империята е доста подобна на съвременния либерално-демократичен световен ред, който се опитва да наложи ценностите си над третия свят и да го завлече, насила и ако е нужно под дулото на автомата и танка, в 21 век. А въпросният трети свят се дърпа, крещи и мята самоделни бомби, защото иска да продължава да си живее както си е живял до сега - да слага бурки на жените си, да убива гейовете с камъни и да почита своя единствен бог - нещо, което пък либералният съвременен ред пък не може по никакъв начин да приеме. Кой е крив и кой е прав, а?

Както за нас е съвсем естествено, нормално и правилно да се радваме на техническия и морален напредък, така за хората с други виждания от нашите е нормално да не харесват тия неща и да ги имат за нечестиви. Но и двете страни смятат, че всички останали трябва да живеят като тях защото техните виждания са най-правилните...

Заглавието "Царство на нечестивите" (wicked може да се преведе в този религиозен контекст още като безбожник, порочен, проклет) и цялата книга много добре илюстрират как религиозния трети свят вижда нашите (и ние се присламчихме към цивилизацията, нали) държави и виждане за света и как ние си ги виждаме и до какви конфликти води това.

Това авторката илюстрира много умело, като използва характеристиките както на римското, така и на древното еврейско общество, за да ни накара в един момент да съпреживяваме на едните, а в следващия на другите. На една страница да сме съгласни с моралните избори на едните срещу другите, а в следващата - съвсем обратно. Римляните приемат съвсем нормално секса преди брака, хомосексуалността, правата на жените, а древните евреи като цяло убиват с камъни за тия неща... Но също така се грижат за родените си с увреждания деца, които римляните биха евтаназирали още при раждането и просто искат да живеят мирно, по своя начин, в собствената си държава...

Отделно от това, авторката чудесно пригажда характеристиките на Римската империя към съвременния свят и прави от нея наистина вероятна и действителна съвременна велика сила. Самата книга е писана очевидно като паралел за САЩ и войната им в Близкия изток, затова голяма част от повествованието е посветено на моралността при използването на мъчения за разкриване на терористични заплахи. Но фактът, че книгата е също толкова релевантна за другия конфликт в региона само показва колко е добра.

[Fredrik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not what I expected. Did not finish.

I picked this up for the alternative history setting. However, it turns out the question underpinning the story is not, as I thought "What if the Roman republic industrialised?", but "What if Jesus was arrested for starting a riot in a public place and tried as a terrorist in a modern court of law?". Which may be an interesting experiment experiment of legal alt-fiction, but not one I really care about.
In effect, this means that the setting is pretty much the modern world with Imperial Roman trappings, complete with most (if not all; there are some differences) of the technology we recognise from today. There are also several "anachronisms", modern setting details that stick out as incongruous, even allowing for changes brought on by alternative paths of history.
The sum of all this makes the setting suspiciously similar to the current situation in the Middle East, which is probably deliberate, but it's such an obvious metaphor that it cheapens the story. When finally there are so far no characters I connect with, my conclusion is that I have many, many other books I'd rather read. I'm out.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting concept -- industrialized Rome occupying Judea, with a Jesus figure, mostly told from the perspective of the Romans. The focus is on the legal process (the author is a new lawyer), but there's a lot of interesting stuff about Roman and Hebrew history, as well as speculative fiction about what would happen if their culture had gotten modern technology.

Sort of interesting that the author is somewhat famous/infamous in Australia for a previous work (a WW2 story told from the perspective of a Ukrainian anti-communist, written under a Ukrainian pen name).

This book definitely does make the Hebrews (Jews and I suppose early Christians) seem like backwards religious whackos compared to the civilized romans, but that's not exactly a lie. There are a lot of parallels to modern religious terrorism, with the Romans patrolling in MRAPs, having rocks thrown at them, etc.

The book was pretty intentionally funny in drawing direct parallels (or just bringing our-timeline events in directly); lots of things which are essentially anachronistic, or things which are highly path dependent in modern culture given a thin Rome-washing ("Jupiter-class MRAP", for instance...). I assume this is mainly for comedic effect.

The biggest missed opportunity of the book was not making explicit in the book itself the divergence from our timeline; the author included it in author's notes in an afterword, something many readers would skip. It could have been worked into the story somehow through oblique references, or even just stated explicitly.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technologically advanced Romans investigate the crimes of Jesus and his disciples. Interesting concept with some provocative suggestions on how our social mores might be different, e.g. around male contraception or religion. I enjoyed both these books: mostly for the world building, but the biblical central plot is a fun twist on an old story.

[Jerrod · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book has an interesting premise: what would the story of Jesus look like if the Roman Empire had experienced an industrial revolution. I just didn't particularly like the execution. The speculation on the wide usage of abortion as birth control (given Roman attitudes) and how that would clash with Jewish moral sensibilities (leading to terrorist actions) was the most interesting part. There was honestly just too much sex. Okay... we get it... Romans liked and would have had gratuitous sex... it just doesn't add much to the story. I think getting across the Roman attitude toward sex could have been achieved with many fewer pages.

One thing that bothered me was that all the characters were caricatures. All Romans (especially the soldiers) were near perfect and always spoke several languages fluently and with little outsider accent. Almost all Jews (excluding the women who decided to marry Romans and maybe the high priest) were stuck in their ways, no nuance to anything, no desire to integrate their culture with any of the good things Rome had to offer.

Interesting premise, lacking character complexity, could have been half the length.

[Kerryn Pholi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen Dale’s Kingdom of the Wicked is a historical courtroom drama, imagining the Jesus story from the Roman point of view. Dale’s Roman Empire has undergone an industrial revolution and is now blessed with modern technology – a speculative twist that illuminates the often familiar yet sometimes strange Roman culture. This technological twist also brings into starker relief the clash between the ‘modern’ values of the Romans and the ‘backward’ traditional customs and religious extremism at the fringes of the empire, with the Temple riot instigated by the charismatic Yeshua Ben Yusuf and his followers but one example of the ethnic and religious tensions presided over by the beleaguered Pontius Pilate, governor of the province of Judaea.

Dale’s introduction of an industrial revolution to circa 31 AD Rome is based upon meticulous research and careful consideration of Roman law and politics. Readers with an interest in history or theology can investigate for themselves which aspects of the story are ‘true’ and which have been invented; some readers have already considered the economic plausibility of Dale’s industrialised ancient Rome. Her modernised take on the arrest, questioning and trial of Yeshua / Jesus as a suspected religious terrorist would be a risky prospect for any novelist; for a writer of Helen Dale’s notoriety it amounts to a literary a high-wire act. If this book had turned out to be rubbish, there would very likely be many reviewers happy to trumpet her failure to pull off such an ambitious concept. The silence in the Australian media (to date) surrounding Kingdom of the Wicked – the first novel in more than 20 years from the youngest and arguably most controversial winner of the Miles Franklin award - speaks volumes.

The silence is unfortunate, because Kingdom of the Wicked deserves a wide audience. The reader doesn’t have to care about the history of the Roman Empire or the finer points of the Roman legal system, and doesn’t even have to care about the Jesus story (or the Helen Dale story for that matter) to enjoy this book – it’s just a cracking good read. It’s a story of empire, politics, religion and law as a backdrop to the smaller stories of people relating to each other as human beings as their vastly different worlds collide on a frontier. It’s a legal drama set in a militaristic society, complete with action, guns and gadgets, soldiers and lawyers, tanks and torture. It has attractive and complicated characters, with a bit of romance and a bit of sex, and some bits that even manage to do both at the same time. Australian readers will spot the occasional cultural in-joke, such as the mythological name of a Judaean chain of service stations, or a reference to the economic prosperity brought about by Roman rule as ‘a beautiful set of numbers’.

In a similar vein to Hilary Mantel’s ‘Wolf Hall’, Kingdom of the Wicked breathes life into the dusty and remote figures of Bible classes and Easter mass, and provides an insider’s view of a turning point in history. The attention to detail immerses the reader in a sensory experience of the past – its food, décor, clothing and bathing habits - yet with a skill and lightness of touch similar to Mantel’s, Dale does not exploit her characters as vehicles to laboriously report her painstaking research. This is an author who cares more about the reader’s enjoyment than about showing off her credentials.

Kingdom of the Wicked also shares thematic similarities with Iain M. Banks Culture series, in expressing the dilemmas of an advanced and powerful civilisation that wishes to impose its ideals on others, yet also wishes to respect the autonomy of the ‘lesser’ civilisations it encounters. A technologically modern Roman Empire is more familiar and easier to visualise than the worlds of Banks’ space operas, however. Visually, Dale’s techno-Rome may be similar to the Rome of Ralph Fiennes' 2011 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus.

It is frustrating to think that an intelligent and entertaining novel might not get the attention (and the subsequent sales) it deserves in Australia, simply because the Australian literary establishment continues to hold some sort of grudge against its clever and controversial author. Hopefully Australian reviewers will get over themselves in time for Christmas, because Kingdom of the Wicked deserves to be this year’s bestselling stocking-filler and lazy summer holiday poolside read.

[Angus Exile · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review covers both Book One, Rules and Book Two, Order. Order is not a sequel to Rules but the second part of the story. Order won’t make much sense if you haven’t read Rules, and the story begun in Rules resolves little before the tale moves on to Order.

That might make it sound like a long tale but detailed is probably a fairer way to put it. The story has a generous cast of characters and the author cares enough to flesh out the major ones with enough personal history to understand what makes them tick, but apart from a handful of flashbacks and reminiscences it doesn’t cover a long period of time. As an alternate history it’s one most of us will find familiar and different at the same time. Imagine what the pointy end of the Gospels or what Passion Plays would have looked like if 1st century Rome had had 21st century technology (or better in one or two areas) and if the story had also included events from multiple Roman and Jewish perspectives. Imagine also that these technologically advanced 1st century Romans were socially more advanced than those in our history and had done away with slavery, crucifixion and not providing those accused of crimes fair trials with representation by competent lawyers. But despite the respect given law and legal niceties it’s still a society many of us would feel uncomfortable in since they’ve retained some of the bloodier tastes of old Rome, including state sanctioned, albeit tightly regulated, torture by military interrogators (waterboarding at that - touché, Ms Dale).

That’s the world in which Kingdom of the Wicked takes place. There’s sex, violence, swearing, a clash of cultures that resonates with some real world issues, insurgency, occupation, romance, plotting, and the courtroom drama of a naive but well-intentioned holy man on trial for his life. The world is wonderfully imagined, the narrative gripping, and the characters well written – no stock villains or Mary-Sues, just imperfect human beings whose motives we can by and large understand even if we don’t always agree with what they’re doing. There’s also some marvellous artwork helping to flesh out the world, including one mosaic of a Roman legionary in the kind of armour we’ve all seen in the movies but with a helmet, camouflage uniform and rifle that wouldn’t look out of place now.

Rules covers events before the trial from the riot at the temple to the arrest of Yeshua Ben Yusuf and the efforts of his defence lawyer to build a case, and Order covers the trial and events immediately after. And no, knowing how the Easter story ends in our world does not necessarily mean the conclusion of Kingdom of the Wicked will hold no surprises for you.

[Kim Wingerei · Rating 4 out of 5]

I respect anyone that acknowledges their mistakes, apologises and moves on - Helen Dale ("nee" Helen Demidenko) is a good example. Her debut novel "The Hand that Signed the Paper" won the Miles Franklin but she was later heavily criticised for having falsely presented herself as of Ukrainian ancestry and that the story was based on interviews with relatives. She later apologised unreservedly.
The book was also criticised for being anti-semitic. In my opinion utter nonsense, instead it was a brilliant expose of how war has no winners, that those that partake in atrocities are all sinners and that what we like to see as black and white are just shades of grey in an utterly confusing world.
In "Kingdom of the Wicked" Dale may still be accused of anti-semitism by the Jewish dogmatics, but again she manages to navigate through the various shades of human failings and hypocrisy to great effect. A fascinating re-telling of the story of the well documented attack on the moneychangers in the Jerusalem Temple during the times of a historic character also known as Jesus. All four of the gospels tell the story of his participation in it, as do many historians. Dale uses it to recast the role of both Jesus and Judas in what is a very clever work of historical fiction and courtroom drama. The Romans are in charge, but not unlike Baz Luhrmann's version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet modernity is brought forward to add texture and intrigue.
The Romans are cast as the debauched elite, they drive cars, watch TV and use sophisticated electronic surveillance and high tech instruments of torture. They also adhere to a sophisticated code of conduct and the letter of the law is mostly adhered to. As such the book is also an interesting reminder of how much the legal constructs of today is based on the jurisprudence originally instituted by the Romans.
The characters are many and varied, some times hard to keep track of, but all well crafted in their nuances of conflicting loyalties and confused values. The depictions of the hyper-sexualised life may well be historically accurate, who knows, but at times both camp and overdone, and rarely titillating (if indeed that was the purpose).
But overall I found "Kingdom of the Wicked" a fascinating read, a very clever idea well executed. It is the first in a trilogy, I look forward to the next installment.

[Justus · Rating 2 out of 5]

is a legal procedural of Jesus's trial for domestic terrorism charges in an alternate history Roman Empire that has undergone an Industrial Revolution and advanced technologically to be quite similar in many ways to the modern world.

It is a premise that is intriguing on the surface but quickly shows itself to not really have enough depth to support a book. Or at least not this book. It all started when the author, a lawyer, was rereading the Biblical Gospels:

What struck me at once was the attack on the moneychangers in the Jerusalem Temple. All four Gospels record it, and their combined accounts do not reflect well on the perpetrator’s character.

Jesus went in armed (with a whip) and trashed the place, stampeding animals, destroying property and assaulting people. He also did it during or just before Passover, when the Temple precinct would have been packed to capacity with tourists, pilgrims, and religious officials. I live in Edinburgh, a city that has many large festivals—religious and secular. The thought of what would happen if someone behaved similarly in Princes Street during Hogmanay filled my mind’s eye. This was not a small incident.

It seemed obvious to me that Jesus was executed because he started a riot. Everything else—the Messianic claims, giving Pilate attitude at trial, verbal jousting with Jewish religious leaders—was by the by. Our system would send someone down for a decent stretch if they did something similar; the Romans were not alone in developing concepts of ‘breach of the peace’, ‘assault’ or ‘malicious mischief’. Those things exist at common law, too.

The problem is, yes, obviously Jesus was a domestic terrorist, or at least something very close to it. That's not exactly material for a riveting legal thriller. And Dale doesn't try to give us a legal thriller exactly. Instead we get a legal procedural.

To compound matters, when envisioning the book Dale tells us that her first attempt at writing it was to simply place Jesus and his attack on the money-lenders in the modern world but that didn't really work out. So she went back to the drawing board and came up with an alternate history where the Roman empire undergoes a kind of Industrial Revolution -- to the point where in many ways it is fairly identical to the current, modern world.

The problem: for much of the book Dale seems far more interested in exploring how Roman culture and sensitivities are both similar to our own but also quite different. And...it just isn't that exciting, I guess? It doesn't help that, at least in the early book, chapters are told from perhaps a dozen different point of view characters. We never spend enough time with any of them to particularly care about them and the goal, instead, seems to be able to showcase a wide variety of "weird" Roman practices.

I admit, I didn't finish this. I didn't even make it half way in before deciding I wasn't really having fun reading this. The legal procedural part wasn't exactly enticing: they have Jesus and his apostles on CCTV with dozens of witnesses committing assault.

I think it doesn't help that a lot of the book comes across as kind of didactic and unsubtle. The Roman Empire is, for the most part, coded as a positive liberal force for good in the world. There's even an exchange where one of the colonised, a Carthaginian woman, thanks for Roman boyfriend for freeing her from the backwards shackles of Carthaginian culture.

Dale even recycles an anecdote from the British occupation of India and places it in the occupied Carthage instead:

‘The Romans forbade this tradition [of child sacrifice], and the City Fathers complained that the new law was destroying their culture and customs. The response of the Roman Governor at the time was to say that Romans, too, had customs and traditions. Their custom in this case was that every time the city fathers sacrificed a girl to Tanit, the Romans would build a gallows beside the Temple and hang the city father responsible by the neck until he died. Soon, no more little girls were sacrificed to Tanit, and so I am before you today.’

Through much of the book (at least the part I read), the Judean anger is less about Roman occupation and loss of self-determination per se than about Roman sexual mores (Judean girls who sleep with Romans are and Roman acceptance of abortion and Roman usage of graven images and idols). It is hard not to read this as somewhat heavy handed parallels between Western (and especially American) interventions in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Basically the Judeans are religious fundamentalists and Jesus and his apostles are even more extreme zealots than the rest. And the Romans are just a civilizing force trying to bring girls education and modern health care. One Roman even says all they want to do is bring "school vouchers and public–private health insurance arrangements" to Judea. Stuff like that makes the whole thing feel less like an alternate-history Rome than a somewhat lazy copy & paste of modern America.

[Judean] women seen to be spending too much time in the wrong company were often attacked. In Jerusalem, this tended to mean a shaven head and a thrashing. In more remote areas, there were stonings and honour killings.

I'm not offended by all this or anything. On the contrary, this actually strikes me as a fairly plausible take on the whole thing. But, again, it just felt pretty heavy-handed and there just wasn't enough exciting plot or characterisation to make me care to keep reading after a certain point.

[Aaron Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of "an episode of steampunk Law & Order: SPQR, with Jesus on trial for manslaughter" was unique enough to hook me immediately. Dale proposes an alternate history in which the Roman Empire experienced an Industrial Revolution, which gives a vaguely contemporary setting to a familiar story: the trial of an obscure Judaean terrorist and holy man named Yeshua Ben Yusuf, who has been picked up for inciting a lethal riot in front of some Jerusalem moneylenders during Holy Week. The book follows both the Romans investigating this crime as well as the Jewish inhabitants of the area, retelling the familiar story of Jesus' trial with a few fun nods towards alternate/apocryphal Biblical lore and an ambiguously spiritual ending. I thought the pacing could use some work, but you certainly won't find many alternate histories which are bold enough to have Jesus as a POV character.

Evidently Dale, who was trained as a lawyer, was fascinated by how one would go about actually prosecuting Jesus's criminal acts in a modern court of law, but she wanted a more up-to-date world to better explore the conflict between ancient fire-and-wrath religious mindset and more modern ideas of legality and justice, and so here she posits a roughly 20th century Roman Empire occupying a rabble of rock-throwing provincials attempting to Civilize the Natives with a firm hand. This is generally well-handled; there is enough affectionate fussing over courtroom protocol and rules of evidence to satisfy any fan of Boston Legal, the technology she gives the Romans is (mostly) plausibly integrated into their society, and the interactions between the overbearing cosmopolitan Roman conquerors and their restive, fanatically religious Judean subjects not only fondly recalls classics like Monty Python's Life of Brian but also has more serious parallels to that of the modern Israelis and Palestinians, especially after 10/7.

The question of why the Romans didn't have an Industrial Revolution, meaning steadily rising general living standards driven by technological advancements and productivity improvements, is an interesting one that has more than a few shelves of its own in the vast library that's accumulated around the post-1720 "great escape", as Gregory Clark termed it, from the stagnation of classical antiquity. Dale's choice of Archimedes having escaped being murdered by a wayward centurion after the capture of Syracuse in 212 BC and thereby saving civilization about 2,000 years of technological doldrums over the 250 years since is a fun one, as Archimedes could plausibly have gone on to invent the things like pumps, engines, and looms which drove the social changes that really divide the modern era of economic growth from everything which came before. There are some odd sci-fi technologies thrown in - I'm thinking specifically of the genetically engineered biomechanical living attack bird helicopters that are mentally linked to their female pilots Avatar-style via telepathically controlled prehensile neural links - but overall she does well to set up both the technological contrast between the Romans and everyone else, but also the social contrast, e.g. their abolition of slavery in a manner similar to our own. Overall it's just fun reading about Roman centurions riding around in MRAPs (one imagines the Spartacus revolt being put down with machine guns).

My main issue was that after a strong start crafting the world-building in the first volume, the plot slowed down to a crawl in the second volume so that all the characters could stop and have sex with each other. I get that the sexual mores of the Romans are interesting, and of course a little smut never hurts, but the main reason that real police procedurals don't have sex scenes after each commercial break isn't that they don't think it would sell, it's that there's a story to tell. I was also a little puzzled by the implicit theology of this alternate setting since some changes really stood out, the biggest being that Dale uses the theory that Jesus was the son of a Roman soldier named Pantera; other changes like Mary Magdalene being a TV announcer are more amusing than anything else. Another interesting choice is turning the famous What Is Truth? moment into the climax of his trial, as he justifies his actions by pointing to the poverty and corruption in Judaean society. It's totally minor detail, but I noticed she drops the cursing of the fig tree moment right before the moneylender incident that is the entire premise of this novel. The ending of the novel is purposely somewhat ambiguous, but the setting and world-building were interesting enough that I enjoyed it.

Some links about Rome and their Industrial Revolution that wasn't:
- https://www.markkoyama.com/p/could-ro...
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/s...
- https://www.libertarianism.org/public...
- https://www.maximum-progress.com/p/ro...
- https://acoup.blog/2022/08/26/collect...

[J.D. Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because I saw Louise Perry, author of "The Case Against the Sexual Revolution," interview Helen Dale, the author of this book, and I thought Dale's observations on Roman culture were fascinating. I also think the premise of this book, that Rome underwent an Industrial Revolution prior to what we now designate as 1AD, is fascinating. It offers us an opportunity to see how different, and how alike, we in the US and UK are to Rome, and a chance to follow the events of Jesus' passion week through a distinctly different lens. It won't work for everyone, though.

"Rules" is entertaining. There is no question on that. The characters we are supposed to like are likeable, and the ones we don't are not. I had no problems with the pacing. The overlay of modern tech on the 1st century political situation in Jerusalem never gets old, and it is endlessly interesting to me to see which attitudes we inherit from Rome, which from Jerusalem, and of course, the what we gain, or lose, depending on your perspective, from the Christian interpretation of each.

That's the good part. If Dale has a technical weakness in this novel, it's that she's clearly a lawyer who likes to nerd out to her favorite subject. I'm willing to bet she reigned herself in for this novel, and we're still treated to digressions about specific legal statuses and motions and filings, and why it's all so important that we do everything by the book. You can count it toward worldbuilding, as Dale argues struct adherence to good laws is a cultural feature that made Romans both distinct and great.

But then there's the matter of personal taste.

Dale casts the pagan Romans as the protagonists and heroes in this novel, and she goes further than explaining their view. She full on celebrates it, to a level that I believe is a little dishonest. The Romans are very free with their bodies, and don't appear to suffer from jealousy which I find unlikely. I also don't believe Dale is as clear as she could be on how brutal the Roman position is. Not was, as there have been cultures that have sought to revive Roman values (the Enlightenment, Nazi Germany), and that same attitude lingers still. Rome loved and rewarded strength and competence, but it punished the infirm and the slow. In the afterword, Dale mentions our efforts in biology and medicine have lagged behind advancements in mathematics, physics, and engineering, and how she has the Romans prioritize the healing arts. Without Christian ethics preventing study in anatomy, Dale argues, we would have learned more, faster. She is definitely smarter than I am, but I submit that the Romans cared even less for healing than we do. That our indifference toward the sick, toward the people who can't materially contribute to society, is a holdover from the pagan roots we were never quite able to forget.

And last, Dale does not support the Christian interpretation of events at all. In this version, Yeshua ben Yosef is not the authoritative figure he cuts in the Biblical Gospels. While some of the creative license is interesting, and even fun, I can see a lot of feathers getting ruffled over Dale's interpretation. This is especially true in the excerpt from the following book, "Kingdom of the Wicked: Order," which has Yeshua ben Yosef as the bastard son of a Roman legionary. With the liberal use of foul language, and not just the depiction, but the celebration of promiscuous sex, this is not a novel written for Christians.

I hope this review helps you make your choice on whether to read this book or not.

[Angelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two aspects to this book: The construction of a roman society that has the combustion engine and electricity; and the display of Jesus / Yeshua from a roman perspective, and especially in the light of roman law.

I found that the alternate, industrially revolutionised roman society presented in the book felt only to a limited degree real. On one hand, the legal system (which was clearly and explicitly the focus of the author, who is herself a lawyer) was very authentic and well reserached. The cultural aspects of the roman as well as the judaean / jewish societies was also, to the best of my knowledge, authentic (although I am not sure if the romans were really that sexually open). On the other hand, the language (used by the characters) felt way to modern. This manisfests itself for example in the usage of the anglicised versions of many roman names (Antony instead of Antonius, Pilate / Pilatus, Mary / Maria). Also, at one point a character used the phrase 'Touché", which is French, a language that did not exist at the time (and which's existence can not be infered by the industrial revolution).
By the way, the triggering event of the alternate history / industrial revolution is not given in the book, but only in the author's afterword (WTF?!).

All of this left a latent feeling of inauthenticity present throughout the book, which I never was quite able to overcome.

I very much enjoyed the societal implications of the book, including the display of Jesus as a religious / policitical activist, which is, all christian sentiments aside, probably exactly what he was.

All in all, a mostly well researched, exciting and interesting book, with some flaws in contemporary language that impact the overall atmosphere of the story.

[Jamie Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helen Dale’s Kingdom of the Wicked is an interesting book. The author gained notoriety in her early twenties for a book that won the Miles Franklin award, and, if nothing else, demonstrates she is an accomplished writer.

While the book is ostensibly a courtroom drama, and has an alt-history setting that by itself is of interest, and plausible to the extent that it could well have happened, the theme that most intrigued me was the intersection between libertarianism and anti-Semitism.

I won’t say much about the anti-Semitic side except to point out that the Jewish characters are in the main portrayed as backward, confused, venal, corrupt or compromised.

The occupying force, on the other hand, are caricatured as noble, disciplined, reasonable and altruistic, and when straying from the above garner outcomes that in an ethically challenging way justify the means.

If it is Ms Dale’s intent, which I think it is, to portray libertarianism as a better alternative in our troubled world, then this book does not make a convincing case for its adoption. The narrow definition of libertarian freedom as proposed by the author is an ideology, and like theocracy, relies on a simplification of the human condition to assert its plausibility.

Jesus’ teaching transformed western civilisation. This was not an historical accident in the sense that it could only happen under the prevailing circumstances. The reality is that his teaching decussated the human condition. The subsequent co-option and corruption of these teachings by the church, religions, empires, states and cultures does not derogate from their efficacy.

To this extent I still don’t think a convincing book on Jesus set in the contemporary world has been written.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, I'm conflicted about whether I liked it or not, though. i definitely enjoyed the premise and the world-building, but did not care too much about the characters - of the non-bilbical ones, I remember only one or two of all those presented, the rest sort of blurs together for me. A bunch of Romans with all too similar-sounding names, I guess. But what bugs me the most is the plot, or story. Only when I opened Goodreads to write a review did I notice that this is just Book One, which makes it better (or worse). See, there are things happening in the book, and sometimes they are enjoyable, very dynamic, and engaging, but most of the book is just a set-up to a payoff that does not occur until maybe in the following book. I have nothing against book series, but in Rules, I don't feel like I got a satisfying story on its own. I got to know a bunch of people, got glimpses into the very interesting world, several rather interesting things happened, but then it just stopped. It did not even end. There was not even a cliffhanger. A chapter ended, and when I turned the page, there was a glossary of Latin terms. The characters' problems and repercussions and risks I was expected to examine, and believed would be at the crux of the book, went unresolved. This was very disappointing (albeit admittedly more so by the fact that I read it on Kindle and did not pay much attention to my progress).

Overall, it was not badly written, and I may even buy the following book when (and if) it comes out, but it will not be an automatic purchase for me.

[CJ Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up. This is a startling work of speculative/historical fiction, circling around the trial of Jesus. It is written from a Roman pagan perspective, sharply contrasting their outlook with that of the Jews. Dale tries to present both worldviews at their best and worst, and her classical and biblical literacy shines through. Her central conceit is a Roman enlightenment of sorts, including a technological revolution. This device brings the ancient and modern worlds into jarring proximity, but also has its enlightening moments. She attempts to show how technological advances would have caused modern concerns to show up in the past, especially with abortion, but with mixed success - at times, it feels like she is simply writing modern concerns into the lives of ancient people.

Her sympathies seem to lie generally with the Romans, but the moment where we meet Peter's crippled son is both heart-wrenching and illuminating. Roman paganism claims to make life better for everyone, but their "everyone" is defined by a terrible combination of convenience, genetic fitness, and willingness to embrace the Roman way of life. Judaism and Christianity resist pathways to prosperity that are paved over the backs of the weak and helpless.

I'm eager to read part 2.

Oh, and caveat lector: there is a lot of paganism in the book. In particular, Romans and Greeks didn't buy into the "honorable marriage bed" thing. While accurate in its way, and definitely a major fault line between the two kingdoms, it's written the way a Roman would write it.

[Nari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imperial Rome has undergone the Industrial Revolution. A certain Ben Yusuf seems to be behind a domestic terror incident at the Jewish temple in the far flung colony of Judea. A very interesting premise to explore how societal values might have evolved in an industrial society without Judeo-Christian influence. This includes ideas of law and justice.

Alas, the execution is so poor as to make the book nearly unreadable. Instead of writing so many pages on sex, she might have explored how Industrial Revolution might have come about in that era. As it stands, it’s a crude caricature of the modern era. A bit like in old Star Trek where they go to some planet and see Roman centurions with guns.

The characters are one dimensional. Romans are perfect. They are sex machines. They are supremely rational. The Jews are reactionary zealots with sexual hangups. Ok, we get it. Romans had a different attitude to sex. But, it was also a deeply conservative society (in the broad sense of the term). Roman clothing and even encampments did not change much in centuries. Their rationality was of a certain type, one not given to deep scientific inquiry.

Probability was not invented anywhere in the ancient world despite games of chance being very common. So, just because Archimedes happened to survive a battle, we get Industrial Revolution along the same lines as we currently have? C’mon.

[Jasper · Rating 5 out of 5]

To preface, what interests me are plausible actions in a fully realised world. I find plot pointless without good context.

I really enjoyed this book. It spun forth a truly fascinating world of modern Romans with all their trappings, resulting in a strange uncanny valley feeling of recognizing the world, and yet not truly understanding the culture behind it.

Bring into this the Romans (and Jews) of the book. Closely mimicking an American occupation of the middle-east. The characters are spun out of this context, thoughts not always clear, reasoning not always your own. You barely meet Yeshua ben Yusuf (Jesus) but instead all his apostles - and their failings as people are properly explored; Judas is a proper Zealot, the Apostles rigid Jews who despise the Roman occupation. The Romans with the love for lust and blood are also shown in that light; Caiaphas is a part of the Roman ruling class, but balks at the frank sexuality and openness. Sex is always described in a lurid fashion - in (my opinion) an obvious representation of the hedonistic nature of the ethic of the book's empire.

If you enjoy being slightly on the back foot and love seeing characters woven into a tapestry of a fully realised world, I suspect this book will be for you.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sort of don't know what to make of this, although built on 'alternative history', Helen Dale appear to be interested in more than one thought experiment starting from "What if the Romans had their own industrial revolution?" So technology, politics, law, culture, all of them get touched on, as well as what Roman imperialism might look like in such a world.

It is not for everybody. (other reviews already demonstrate this).

But what is interesting is that all the characters do seem to live in that world and of that world, and you, reader, are not one of them.

I found this fascinating and worth my time. Others will not.

[Guy Bocchino · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea of Roman Culture applied to a technically advanced society was fascinating to me and what I found most interesting. I know this is a minority opinion as most people would be more interested with the story of Christ playing out in a modern society. I won't say most people are stupid just that we are all different.
If either of these points don't interest you than you should probably pass. If they do however the book was well written, the Roman history well researched and a lot of fun.

[Sijmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Suits and Homeland brought together into the Roman era? Sign me up. It starts out so good. Pieces – people, interests, events – are set up cleverly and there's good potential for a super interesting and exciting story. Instead, the set up is forgotten and characters ignored completely (e.g. what happened to Caiaphus?) and it all devolves into a whole lot of fifty shades of cinereo.

[Alexandra]

DNF

Did not realise this was Helen Darville, becuase that whole controversy slipped my mind.

While I really like the concept, I was deeply uncomfortable about it being basically Roman colonial justification. And it also felt deeply anitsemitic, with the Judeans portrayed as barbaric and uncivilised.

[R4vi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy it but there are other reviews with valid criticisms about how much this is a historical fiction novel about rome vs what if Jesus was tried as a terrorist in the modern world.

That being said there were a lot of nice touches and what let it down for me was the ending. It was very anti-climatic. Don't let that stop you from reading it.

[Kym Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable but silly in many ways. Really, you need to be very interested in law or Roman history (preferably both with a strong interest in Roman Law) otherwise I can’t see why you would read this.

Recommended. With reservations.

[Nitin Nair · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really quick read. Quite a few of the racy bits could have been pared down though 😉

[Sam Bartholomew · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, knowing only the broadest strokes of the stories it's referencing meant I almost certainly missed a few things, but it's pretty decent in its own right.

[Liz Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really engrossing although quite complicated. Final part was un-put-downable and caused me to stay up well beyond my bedtime! Now to read the second one...

[Katherine Coble]

Not the book the blurb sold. More of a courtroom drama than an alt history.

[Courtney Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to get into this one, but then couldn't put it down. Really good!

[Jonathan Crabb · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting speculative fiction novel that was recommended to me by a Twitter friend. The book is essentially a historical imagining of what the Roman lawyers and police would have experienced during the time of Jesus trial. They also move the time period 700 or 800 years into the future which has interesting applications. There are interesting insights into Roman culture and mores too. One note of caution for readers. Roman culture was very sexually driven and some of the book content reflects that so be aware.

Ironically, I read most of this book during Holy Week. While the book definitely doesn't take the claims of Christianity as truth, I found it was a neat way to further contemplate Jesus, his disciples, and the world that he lived in. I can’t wait to read book 2.

[Seth Green · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is the best-written book that I would recommend to no one. I can't figure out who would be a good audience for it. It's many things but it doesn't do any of them very well:

1) historical fantasy/counter-factual, a world where Rome industrialized. Doesn't really explore how technology affects norms. Basically just imagines tighter rule of law, and a bit of futuristic/current weaponry that doesn't change the plot details.

2) A retelling of the Jesus story, so maybe for religious Christians or at Sunday school -- but then, all the kinky sex scenes are going to be a problem, as are the (trigger warning) scenes of sexual violence, both rape and people being aroused by torture.

3) libertarian crowd -- but there's just one little bit at the end expressing market thinking.

Prose is good. Story builds well towards some climactic violence. and then the terrorists are defeated, the main characters go home and have sex, the end.

I keep bringing up sex in this review because I think it's important to what Dale was trying to accomplish. Per her Penthouse article (http://www.penthouse.com.au/articles/...

"This failure to grasp the diversity (and perversity) of human lust has been brought home to me, paradoxically, by the contents of my author’s postbag (yes, readers routinely write to novelists).

Kingdom of the Wicked, my latest book, has as one of its main characters a senior officer in the Roman Army, Cornelius. He’s a military lawyer, clever and thoughtful, tall and ginger (the Romans, unlike us, thought gingers especially sexy). He has many fine traits – honesty, bravery, loyalty, good in the sack – but he also plans and directs his legion’s torture sessions. He is skilled at extracting information from people, brutally if necessary.

And since October 2017, when the book was published, I have received hundreds of letters from straight women – telling me they want to fuck Cornelius."

Seen in the light of the whole thing being erotic fiction, or erotically stimulating fiction, but that's _also about the events leading up to Jesus's execution -- well, I think now we're closer to figuring out why this book is so confused.